Screening of short film featuring Pragya Thakur stopped by EC in MP

Bhopal: The screening of a short film featuring Bhopal BJP Lok Sabha candidate and Malegoan blast accused Pragya Singh Thakur among others was Monday stopped midway here by a team of the Election Commission and local police. The film, titled 'Bhagwa Aatankwad Bhramjaal' is centred around the Samjhauta Express, Malegaon, Ajmer Dargah and Mecca Masjid blasts and was being shown to journalists here by an organisation called Bharat Vichar Manch (BVM).

Following a complaint by the Congress, a team of EC officials and personnel from MP Nagar police station stopped the screening, said Inspector Manish Rai.

He said the EC had initially given permission to BVM for the show but recalled it after the Congress complained.

A BVM member, who identified himself as Captain Vikas Pandey, said the Mumbai-based producer-director of the film, Rajiv Pandey, wanted to the launch the short film from MP.

He said the BVM was a social organisation and is not connected to the RSS. Rajiv Pandey said the film would be uploaded on sites like YouTube soon. "They are free to show the short film after May 12 when elections for Bhopal Lok Sabha seat gets over. We lodged a model code of conduct violation with the EC and it promptly took action," MP Congress spokesperson Bhupendra Gupta said.

"The EC has put off the release of a biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the same yardstick should apply to Pragya Thakur as well," he added. The short film contends that Thakur and other "Hindu personalities" were held on "cooked up" terror charges by the Congress-led UPA government.

Thakur is pitted against senior Congress leader and former chief minister Digvijaya Singh from Bhopal.